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plumber

DEVOPS
Velocity0.0

Turn R code into a web API

github.com/rstudio/plumber ↗

R's API framework grew its serializer catalogue, then went quiet on features.

r-languageapi-frameworkserializersopenapiarrow
◆Current state
plumber is at 1.3.3, and the last three releases are small: a Swagger redirect fix for hosted environments, a test-robustness change, and Arrow IPC Streams serializers. The feature weight sits further back — 1.3.0 added excel serializers and parsers, ragg and svglite graphics devices, port validation against IANA ranges, and stopped writing parsed bodies to disk.
◆Where it's heading
The pattern across the window is a framework extending what it can exchange rather than what it can do. GeoJSON and parquet in 1.2.0, excel in 1.3.0, Arrow IPC Streams in 1.3.1 — each release adds a format, while routing, OpenAPI and the annotation model stay where 1.1.0 left them. The recent tags suggest that expansion has slowed to hosting-compatibility fixes.
◆Prediction
Given three consecutive small releases and no open feature thread in the notes, the next version most likely continues as a maintenance patch rather than adding another serializer family.

◆Recent moves

  1. 6mo ago

    Swagger redirects use relative paths for hosted deployments

    Swagger documentation redirects now use relative paths so they survive being served behind a proxy such as Posit Connect. A hosting fix with no change to the API surface.

    View source ↗
  2. 7mo ago

    Test-only fix for R Markdown image matching

    One change, and it is to the test suite's HTML pattern matching. Nothing here reaches users.

    View source ↗
  3. 7mo ago

    Arrow IPC Stream serializer and parser

    Adds Arrow IPC Stream serializer and parser, continuing the format-expansion thread that ran through parquet and feather. The apiPath fix makes mounted documentation resolve correctly.

    View source ↗
  4. 1y ago

    Excel and ragg support, port validation, no disk staging

    The largest release in the window: excel serializer and parser, ragg and svglite graphics devices, ports validated against IANA guidance, and rds, feather and parquet parsers that no longer stage data on disk. Error messages are now off by default rather than depending on whether the session is interactive.

    View source ↗
  5. 4y ago

    GeoJSON and parquet serializers, breaking OpenAPI comment split

    Where the format expansion started in earnest: GeoJSON round-tripping into sf objects, a parquet serializer and parser on arrow, and an octet-stream serializer. The OpenAPI summary and description split from endpoint comments is flagged breaking.

    View source ↗
  6. 5y ago

    Trailing-slash redirects and 405 method-not-allowed handling

    Routing gains the pieces users kept hand-rolling: optional trailing-slash redirects and 405 responses for valid routes called with the wrong method. Three breaking changes come with it, including forced JSON serialization of error responses.

    View source ↗